Green Mango and Lemon Rice Recipe

Green mango and Lemon Rice Recipe:

Cooking a traditional recipe is like homecoming, the comfort and magic of food that one has grown up eating is beyond compare. Specially being brought up in India means you have grown up eating a variety of new recipes, our rich heritage in food spanning from north to south and east to west is a treasure that may take us a life time to unravel. Our climate too is diverse and extreme all across, so every region has its own food for its respective season.

Down south it is mostly hot and humid throughout so we eat quite a lot of tangy and spicy food in this region. But since the Delhi weather is behaving no different, there couldn’t have been a better time than now to enjoy some tangy Southern recipe for lunch. So this afternoon was about a tangy fried rice preparation that’ s a cross between Kairi Rice and Lemon rice that my mom used to make us on a hot summer afternoon and hence I christened it Green mango and Lemon Rice. It made us a nice, light and soothing gorgeous summer lunch served with a basic Tadke Wali Dahi (Tempered Curd).

Ingredients (Serves 2):

1 cup Basmati Rice (Boiled with a little salt)

1 medium size Green Mango (Kairi)

2 tbsp Lemon Juice

1 medium onion, cut into thin strands

2 green chillies, finely chopped

2 tbsp ground nuts

2 whole dried red Chilli

1 tsp Mustard seeds

2 tbsp of Curry leaves

½ tsp turmeric pwd

Some chopped fresh Coriander leaves

1 tbsp grated coconut

5-6 cloves of garlic cut into fine strands, optional

2-3 few lime leaves, optional

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp cooking oil plus 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

1 heaped tsp Split Bengal gram (Chana Dal)

1 heaped tsp Split Black gram

For the Tadke Wali Dahi (Tempered Curd):

2 cups Fresh Curd

Salt to taste

1 green chilli, finely chopped

½ tsp black mustard seeds

A couple of curry leaves

½ tsp oil

Preparation:

Clean the green mango, cut half into thin strips and grate the other half. Cook the basmati rice with a little salt.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan/wok, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, garlic, red chillies and fry till they just pop then add the lentils and groundnut and fry on medium heat until they are slightly browned. Now add chopped green chillies, onion and grated mangoes and fry again for 2-3 minutes.

Add turmeric, dress with salt and pepper and fry for another minute. Finally add the rice and lime leaves, gently fry for another minute. Mix well the entire lemon juice and chopped coriander, taste for salt and add more if required. Top up with chopped remaining cut mango strips and grated coconut and serve with Tadke Wali Dahi.

The Tadke Wali Dahi (Tempered Curd):

Mix salt to taste in the curd and keep in the serving bowl.

Heat oil in a small tadka pan, turn down the heat and add all ingredients. Allow them to pop and turn slightly brown, then just pour the entire content on the top of the curd and serve.

Dos and Don’ts:

Despite a long list of ingredients the process is simple. Just do not overcook the rice else you may break it strands while frying.